09/08/17 09/08/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> they haven't had showers in 10 days. they've only had one change of close in those agendas. -- in those 10 days. that port of potty's, but they have been told that those are for correction officers only. amy: as massive hurricane irma rushes towards florida, we go to houston, texas, to take a look at what happens to prisoners who are left to fend for their lives in flooded jails. in nfl star michael bennett speaks out after being taken down and assaulted by police in las vegas. he said one officer threatened

off."ow my effing head >> a lot of people have lived that experience and are not here to tell their story. i think about trayvon martin. i think about philando castile. samir rice. so many people who had the experience i had better not here to tell the story. so that is what it is. amy: them we look at segregation in alabama. >> and the name of the greatest people that have ever draw this area, i joined a line in the segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. amy: that was alabama governor george wallace in 1963. we will speak to "new york times magazine" reporter nikole hannah-jones about how

segregation is returning to alabama's public schools. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. hurricane irma, the most powerful atlantic storm ever recorded, laid waste to parts of the caribbean overnight, pummeling turks an turks and caicos. the storm's death toll rose to 18, but officials warned that figure will increase as rescue workers search or the rubble of islands that have seen over 90% of all buildings destroyed. irma we can slightly as it pushed west and was downgraded friday from category 5 to category 4. it remains dangerous with sustained winds of 155 osprey our. the storm lashed the northern dominican republic and flooded thursday parts of haiti

overnight, but irma's eye passed ,ell north of hispaniola sparing the two countries from the worst of the hurricane's wrath. in south florida, freeways jammed with cars thursday and friday as officials ordered the evacuation of over half million people. the eye of the storm is projected to strike florida early sunday morning as a category 4, delivering storm surge of 10 feet or higher. in miami beach, which averages three feet above sea level mayor , philip levine told a local reporter irma is an existential threat. >> we have talked to people in your city who say, we ain't going. >> i hate to hear that. i'm going to do everything in my power to convince them this is a nuclear hurricane. they must leave the beach. amy: the national weather service warns of likely structural damage to even sturdy buildings, with the complete destruction of mobile homes likely.

elsewhere florida power & light , said thursday it was shutting down a pair of nuclear power plants ahead of the storm. the twin-reactor turkey point plant, which is 20 feet above sea level, lies just south of miami on the coast, directly in e path of irma's expected landfall. further north on florida's atlantic coast is the twin-reactor st. lucie nuclear plant. in order to avoid meltdowns, both plants must maintain constant power to ensure the cooling off of nuclear fuel rods in their reactors, as well as highly radioactive spent fuel rods kept in storage pools on site. meanwhile, forecasters warned hurricane katia could strengthen in the warm waters of the western gulf of mexico into a major hurricane before it makes landfall in the mexican state of veracruz, south of flood-ravaged texas, which is still reeling from mass flooding after harvey's landfall less than two weeks ago. and in the eastern caribbean, hurricane jose is threatening to

bring fierce winds and a storm surge to the island of barbuda, which hurricane irma damaged 95% of the island's buildings after it hit on tuesday. the unprecedented hurricanes come as a study finds climate change is driving the mass extinction of parasites that are critical to natural ecosystems, and could add to the planet's sixth great mass extinction event that's currently underway. the report in the journal "science advances" warns about a third of all parasite species could go extinct by 2070 due to human activity. the loss of species of lice, fleas, and worms could have profound ripple effects on the environment and might pave the way for new parasites to colonize humans and other animals with disastrous health outcomes. in texas, seven emergency workers are suing the arkema chemical company after they were

exposed to toxic chemicals and hospitalized after an explosion at plant outside houston that was flooded by waters from hurricane harvey. at least two tons of volatil chemicals known as organic peroxides burned after cooling systems at the plant failed. attorneys say the first responders were never told about the dangers of the resulting chemical plume, which fema director brock long later called incredibly dangerous. the arkema plant is in crosby, texas. to see our toxic tour of the petro metro, you can go to democracynow.org. in mexico, the strongest earthquake in a century struck off the west coast early friday, leveling buildings in the impoverished states of chiapas and oaxaca and triggering tsunami warnings across the pacific. the quake struck at a shallow depth of just 43 miles, making it particularly dangerous. there were early reports of at

least 15 deaths, but that toll is expected to rise dramatically after the u.s. geological survey warned of mass casualties and said the disaster is likely widespread. the quake triggered pacific ocean tsunami sensors, but mexican president enrique peña nieto later said the waves were not as high as feared and major damage from tsunamis was unlikely. the quake is so powerful, it rattled buildings, broke windows and knocked out power in parts , of mexico city -- more than 450 miles away. syria's government is accusing israel of bombing a military scientific research center in the west of syria that israeli officials accuse of producing chemical weapons and missiles that could be used to deliver them. syria's government said the attack could bring dangerous repercussions to the security and stability of the region. the israeli airstrikes came a day after u.n. investigators concluded syria's air force used the nerve gas sarin in an attack

in april that killed at least 83 people in the rebel-held town of khan sheikhoun. the u.n. said it was one of at least 20 chemical weapons attacks by the syrian government during the conflict. president trump welcomed kuwait's emir to the white house thursday, saying he was prepared to help mediate a dispute the gulf kingdom and its allies have with qatar -- which trump has accused of supporting terrorism. president trump also praised kuwait's monarch for purchasing u.s.-made weapons, including warplanes. pres. trump: kuwait has purchased tremendous amount of military equipment and other 77's f-18'smany 7 from us. we will be talking about additional orders and military orders. amy: kuwait is a member of the saudi-led military coalition that has been bombing yemen since march of 2015. this week, the u.n. said the airstrikes were responsible for

most of the 1100 killed during the war, calling ongoing famine and a cholera epidemic in yemen an entirely man-made catastrophe. doctors without borders warned thursday migrants rescued at sea while attempting to cross the mediterranean from north africa should be allowed to seek asylum in europe, rather than the returned to libya where they face sexual violence, torture and forced labor. , the humanitarian group's president, dr. joanne liu, said in an open letter thursday that european union authorities are feeding a criminal system of abuse by returning migrants to libya. >> today, we are making a public appeal, sending this open letter to governments in europe, asking leaders to publicly position themselves on what is happening in libya today. are they ok with containing and sending people back to where

they will be raped, tortured, and enslaved? amy: the warning by doctors without borders came a day after the european court of justice struck down a legal challenge brought by hungary and slovakia over the european union's mandate -- mandatory refugee quota policy, which orders national governments to take in their fair share of asylum seekers. back in the u.s., a federal court struck another blow thursday to president trump's ban on refugees and travelers from six majority-muslim nations. the unanimous ruling by three judges on the ninth circuit court of appeals rejected an attempt by the trump administration to deny visas to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who wish to travel from the affected countries to join relatives living in the u.s. the justice department said it will challenge the latest ruling on the travel ban when the supreme court hears the case next month. in health care news, massachusetts democratic senator elizabeth warren said thursday she will cosponsor a bill by

firman senator bernie sanders that would expand medicare to include every american. the measure, which sanders is expected to introduce later this month, would provide universal health care by lowering the age of medicare eligibility from 65 to zero. other democratic senators, including california's kamala harris and montana's jon tester have said they might support the , bill. in west virginia, prosecutors have dropped charges against journalist dan heyman of public news service, who was arrested in may and charged with willful -- well questioning secretary tom price inside the west virginia state capitol. heyman's arrest came as he pressed price about whether domestic violence would be categorized as a pre-existing condition under the republican'' proposed healthcare bill. heyman told reporters he was reeved afterhursday's

decision to drop charges, saying -- "facing six months of jail time for asking a question as a journalist was pretty troubling." education secretary betsy devos said thursday the trump administration will roll back rules aimed at protecting survivors of sexual assault on college campuses. the move reverses president obama's 2011 directive on title ix, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools. speaking in arlington, virginia, devos said the changes were denying due process rights to those accused of rape and sexual sconduct on campuses. >> through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach. with the heavy hand of washington tipping the balance of her scale, the sad reality is, lady justice is not blind on campuses today. amy: the education secretary betsy devos' comments drew

protests from survivors of campus sexual assault who rallied outside the building at george mason university where devos delivered her remarks. this is sofie karasek of the group eroc, that's end rape on campus. >> what she is trying to do is to the skills in favor of perpetrators. she is siding with rate this. that is what she decided to do today. and we as survivors and's students and allies, we are not going to stand for that. we will not go back to the days when all you're getting for committing rape was either and an or a $20 fine essay assignment. amy: in privacy news, the credit reporting agency equifax said on software vulnerability left thursday a personal information for 143 million people exposed to hackers in one of the largest data breaches in u.s. history. equifax said the information

included social security numbers, driver's license information, credit card numbers and other data. , bloomberg reports that just days after learning of the breach, three top equifax executives sold about $1.8 million worth of the company's stock, yet waited over a month to inform the public. equifax's share price plummeted overnight after news of the data breach broke, losing nearly 15% of its value. and in the philippines, president rodrigo duterte take's son told senate investigators he played no part in the scheme to ship more than $125 million in illegal drugs from china. they presence here is for filipino people and to those whom i serve. , but i cannoty answer allegations based on

hearsay. he and the son-in-law face allegations they helped arrange for the shipments of crystal methamphetamine last may. since president duterte launched so-called war on drugs in the philippines last year, security forces and vigilantes have killed more than 7000 suspected drug dealers and users. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as the national football league begins its new season, one of its most outspoken players has revealed he was recently detained and assaulted a police in las vegas. seattle seahawks star michael bennett issued a statement on twitter wednesday writing that an officer threatened to "blow my effing head off" and that "las vegas police officers singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time."

the incident took place outside a boxing match last month. police were responding to reported gunshots in las vegas. video released by tmz shows michael bennet on the ground being handcuffed. listen closely. >> i wasn't doing nothing, man. i was it with my friends. everybody ran. ok, man. amy: on wednesday, michael bennett held a press conference to talk about what happened. >> obviously, i would hate to be up here through the circumstances talking about it. it is a traumatic express for me, my family. ks you get profiled for the color of your skin.

it is a tough situation for me. there are a lot of people who experience what i experienced at that moment and they are not here to tell their story. i think about trayvon martin. i think about philando castile t,amir rice. submitted people who of the experience i had and they are not here to tell this story. though that is what it is. i'm just lucky to be here to be able to speak about it. at any moment i could have made and theg decision seahawks would be wearing the patch with number 72 on it. i'm lucky to be here now and to continuously fight for people, fight for the equality of all people, regardless of their color and gender, regardless of all that. i'm going to continuously do what i have been doing. it is a hard journey. sometimes you feel like you are alone, but there are a lot of people who support me. at this point, it is the reality where i live in every day.

i think a lot of people as a black man, you fear sometime what can happen to you, the possibilities if you are in the wrong situation at the wrong time. you hope and you wish that everything martin luther king said or the people before me, we hope that we would be judged on the content of character, not the color of your skin. sometimes you get judged on that. that is the reality i live in host of when people ask why so down, this is why. this is what people that go through that look like me. amy: that is seattle seahawks nfl star michael bennett. the las vegas police union has accused bennett of making false accusations against the officers. bennett has a long record of speaking out against racial and social injustice. he has joined a protest movement led by former 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick against racial injustice, sitting on the sidelines during the playing of the national anthem ahead of seahawks games. for more, we go to washington,

where we are joined by dave zirin, a sports editor for the nation magazine. he is also the host of "edge of sports." zirin is working on a book with michael bennett about bennett's life, "things that make white people uncomfortable." welcome to democracy now! youain exactly when understand this happened. i think you talked to michael bennet that night. this was at the famous boxing match that took lace in las vegas? >> yes, this saturday before last, the famous mayweather-macgregor match in las vegas. i received phone calls from friends of michael bennett and a text from michael saying what happened immediately. and what happened sounded incredibly traumatic. i want to say something to democracy now! listeners. people have done understand michael bennet, as he so does you so beautifully laid out, he is one of us. he is the soul of an activist. he has stood with people from seattle to haiti. he is given his time and money. what he described to me that night was so frightening and all

i could think to myself as i'm hearing this story about him having a gun against his head, police officers saying there going to blow his effing head off, him speaking about his daughters and whether he would be able to hug his wife -- don amy: the canoe explain what happened after the match? why people started running? >> there were reports inside a right on the las vegas strip of gunshots. people started yelling "gunshots!" and there were loud noises and a scuffle of some kind. hundreds of people ran out onto the strip. statues were toppled over, just to give you idea of the chaos. michael was one of the people running out trying to find somewhere safe to go because of gunshots was not what looks like what happened, what michael described, police honed in on him as summit who could possibly be a suspect in what may have happened, and they took him to the ground, handcuffed him, put his back.

which is scary. it can look like you are resisting arrest. as photographs clearly show, a weapon was an holstered i police and put by his head will stop what is so disturbing about this police union letter that you reference, the las vegas police union, they say they're putting this out to refute what michael bennet said in his own letter about what police did, but they don't refute any of those facts --the gun against his head, the threat to blow his head off. instead, what the police union wrote -- i mean, this is so disturbing to me. in the first paragraph they write, "while the nfl may condone and it's disrespect for our american flag and everything it symbolizes, we hope the league will not ignore bennett's false accusations against our police officers." there are calling upon the nfl to investigate michael bennet for telling the truth about what we see on tape of what happened and they're saying, basically,

well, maybe he deserved it because of his stance about the flag. that is so frightening to think the police would put forward the statement that one's personal politics justifies brutality. amy: i want to turn to michael bennet's brother. they're both football stars. he was with the patriots, now with the green bay packers. this is what he said. >> today, someone sent me the video. i didn't even know there was a video. i had to walk out of a meeting because i broke down crying inking of what could have happened. amy: dave zirin, what happens now? >> there are interesting developments at work. first and foremost, the league and roger goodell has put forward a statement they may stand with michael bennet in this and described him as one of the people in the league with a really are proud of because of the community work he does -- which is epic from seattle to houston. one of the reasons why michael did not come forward until the

week after this took place is because michael bennett is from houston. he immediately was getting to work to raise money for victims of the hurricane. that is why it took a week for him to come forward with this. that is just the kind of person he is. i think the nfl has already not beed they would investigating michael bennett for false statements against the las vegas police. michael bennet's team is thinking about ways they can stand with him. a week from this sunday, i will take this right now, which is the home opener for the seattle seahawks, there is going to be a rally held in front of the stadium going to be put on by the seattle branch of the naacp that is about standing with us, former 49ers quarterback colin cap or not. now it has turned into a for michaelally bennet to let him know he will not be alone in this process as he goes forward with a lawsuit and religious in the message that las vegas police may have victimized michael bennet, but

he is somebody who refuses to be a victim in the case and they really picked on the wrong big in lasan outside a melee vegas. amy: i asked him about the can'ton back kaepernick kneeling before the national anthem. >> for me personally, it just challenges me to be -- join him and try to make everything in his message, make it where people understand they want to be a part of it, or young kids are speaking about it. for me, the greatest thing of what he did was not the adults were having conversation about it, it was the young people were having a conversation about it. it was the 10-year-old, nine-year-old teams. they're not getting paid in the nfl, and they have taken a knee. they understand why they're

doing it, but at same time, they really don't understand the magnitude of what they are doing. you take the middle school teams that are taking a knee. there are not even a lot of fans in the stadium, but they're doing it. you see high school people doing it, college students. it is like they started a fire. the greatest thing was the young to beere aware, starting aware of what was going on and more aware. i thought that was the coolest part about all of it. the young people, the seed he played with the young people, so to growing like fire insert a growing like weeds everywhere. it was special. i think you did something really special. it all started with a knee, and that is the funniest part about it. it was a great thing. amy: that is nfl star michael bennett speaking on democracy now! months ago, before he was taken down by police a few weeks ago in las vegas. dave zirin, here in new york a

few weeks ago, 1000 people came out in front of nfl headquarters protesting about colin kaepernick, that he has not been able to play since then. can you talk very quickly before we wrap up this segment, about the history of the star-spangled banner being played and the players being there and is beginning resistance? absolutely. like michael bennet says, he says we are all standing up and it started with a knee. it started before last season with colin kaepernick. what he did, and i think this is undervalued, he took the knee before the anthem for four straight months. 16 straight weeks he did this protest. i remember speaking to john carlos, the man who raised his fist during the 1968 olympics and he said, well, i just raised my fist once. colin kaepernick did it for 16 straight weeks. what it did come as michael said, it inspired people from middle schools to high schools to colleges, hockey players,

cheerleaders. it expanded the discussion in uncomfortable spaces. it forced sports radio to talk about police brutality. that is something michael bennet is doing now. it would have been so easy for him to be silent about what happened in las vegas. he refused silence because he knows he is the platform to be public and perhaps make sure the next time las vegas police think about racially profiling somebody, maybe they will think twice because of michael bennet. amy: very quickly, have the teams always been out on the field when the star-spangled banner being played? post-9/11 largely a phenomenon. college football players still do not come out before the national anthem. that is what is so crazy about this. everybody says michael bennet and colin kaepernick should.be mixing politics and sports, when that is all the nfl does. the reality is what nfl does that what mixed is -- they don't want resistance politics to mix

with sports. when it comes to politics like militarism, they're all too happy to have that mixed with sports. amy: dave zirin, thank you for being with us. colin kaepernick come his future, just briefly? -- i don'tre will know. it will take an nfl owner being courageous, but i communicate with colin kaepernick and one thing i can take him he gave another $100,000 earlier this month to an organization fighting for daca kids and immigrant children in this country. he is not going to stop organizing or being political. an nfl team should be proud to have him on their roster. if none of them can wake of and see that, he's not going to stop trying to change the world. amy: dave zirin, thank you for being with us sports editor for , the nation magazine. he is also the host of "edge of sports." he is working on a book with michael bennett about bennett's life, "things that make white people uncomfortable." to see our extended interview in february with michael bennet, you can go to democracynow.org. we will be back in a moment.

♪ [music break]

amy: "i will spite survive" by deerhoof performing here on our democracy now! studio. their new record is out today. to see their full performance and conversation, go to democracynow.org. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. hurricane irma come at the most powerful atlantic from ever recorded late ways to parts of the caribbean overnight, publishing turks and caicos. to storm's death toll rose 18 but officials won the figure will increase as rescue workers search to the rubble and islands that have seen over 90% of all buildings destroyed. as florida braces for hurricane irma, we now take a look at conditions in texas prisons since hurricane harvey hit the gulf coast two weeks ago with historic downpour that lasted several days and caused massive flooding. prison officials say about 4500 prisoners remain evacuated. this is texas department of criminal justice executive director bryan collier giving an update wednesday.

>> we currently still have two evacuated. they remain largely dry, but support services appear to be to getre trying to work full assessment of the damage of those locations. amy: meanwhile, prisoners were not evacuated from either the federal prison or three texas prisons in the heavily flooded city of beaumont, east of houston, where high water was so destructive that it disabled the city's water supply system. state prison officials say water did not flood prisons there. but a prisoner named clifton cloer, who is housed on the first floor of the stiles unit in beaumont, told his wife that he stood in water up to his kneecaps during the storm and later faced the stench of backed-up toilets. for more, we go to texas where we're joined in dallas by rachel villalobos, who has been in touch with her husband who is held at the federal correctional conflict in beaumont. she says prisoners there faced

mistreatment during flooding related to hurricane harvey. in houston, we're joined by lance lowry, president of afscme local 3807 of the texas correctional employees, the union which represents texas prison employees. also with us democracy now! , correspondent renee feltz. she is back in her hometown. welcome all of you to democracy now! let's begin with rachel villalobos. can you describe when you're has been called you and what he said was happening in the beaumont prison he is in, rachel? >> he called me september 2 from prison for the first time since august 27. he explained the amount of food they were getting, which was two sandwiches a day, eight ounces of water. he said the prison did get water in it.

that all of the inmates are using the number one and number two in bags just to reserve the toilet water, so they could drink the toilet water. i explained to him, don't drink that water in beaumont. it has bacteria and all kinds of infestations in it. he said at this moment, he did not care. if the water didn't kill him, then the situation was going to kill him. he said he was so dehydrated that when he woke up, his eyelids were sticking to his eyeballs. his tongue was sticking to the top of his mouth. that is how severely dehydrated he was due to the lack of water. amy: can you explain again, what were they given in bags? >> no, they were using the restroom in bags to preserve the toilet water.

--: and the air-conditioning does say the least, it is hot in .ouston, in beaumont with everything that had happened, the power had gone out. the ac was out? >> yes. they had no power. they have the generators they were turning on and off. no ac -- they did not have ac for a good while. the 27th was the last time i believe they had the ac. i just got a message from him saying they did have ac for four to five days. the officersd there are watching him and telling him what to write, so at this moment, i don't know what to believe. that i was told from other inmates wives that they did not have ac, either. amy: there are a lot of rumors that go around at times like

this in prison and outside a prison, but you got reports of two prisoners died from tricking the toilet water? is that what you heard? inmatese emails from "another inmate has passed already" and then at the bottom of the email, it said that this guy collapsed due to him thinking water that the guards rushed to him. yes, but i dig it confirmation that two inmates from the beaumont low passed away due to this. amy: the federal officials have responded. they said there have not been any inmate fatalities as a result of hurricane harvey or otherwise at fcc, federal correctional complex beaumont. tdcj executive director

bryan collier giving an update wednesday on water access for prisoners in beaumont, where the floodwaters disabled the city's water supply system. >> we've had significant improvement in the water pressure. as we continued this week, we see that continuing to improve so we are getting water back into the beaumont areas. some of the things we did during the time city of beaumont was without water, we had water tankers on-site and remained filled so we could do activities with water. we distributed significant truckloads of bottled water to those units to have offenders beulah use water and provided water and housing areas of many of the facilities as well. amy: i want to bring renee feltz and to this discussion, democracy now! correspondent on the ground in houston this week. can you talk about what you been able to document on the ground about prison conditions? thank you for having me back

on. there is a lot of talk about who was evacuated during the storm and who wasn't in the conditions. we knew it was important to look also at the conditions behind bars. it is a little hard to document what is happening. "the houston chronicle" has try to visit some of the facilities in beaumont where the city did lose water, and the prisoners were not evacuated in the texas or federal facilities. "the chronicle" was not allowed to receive a tour as requested. there may be a lot going on there, and it was unable to be accommodated. but at the same time, journalists have not been able to go in and see with their own eyes what is happening at the facilities. that said, it is interesting there is an effort by the national lawyers guild -- or they have an effort called prisoner legal advocacy network. today, they're going to be filing a notice with the bureau of prisons and the texas department of criminal justice sureg them not -- to make

that evidence is basically preserved in terms of documenting what has happened. so we're talking about surveillance footage, videos inside the prison, outside the stump we are talking about social media images. we are talking about other records of who was moved and when, staffing records. people like asking rachel and other loved ones and friends of prisoners in these facilities to keep track of what they have been able to document. they planned to use some of this potentially for litigation in the future. part of what they're concerned about is these facilities have flooded before. in fact, we have images of a facility in the texas area in texas that has flooded previously and is now flooded again this time. i believe it is the terrel and stringfellow units.

people have raised concerns about if these facilities are prone to flooding, do you have a solid plan in place in terms of how to evacuate? or if you're not going to evacuate prisoners, what you're going to do to make sure they have humane living conditions? what we understood from prisoners who have been able to call to their loved ones or send emails, like rachel described, not -- some were describing they did have water come even though prison officials have said there was not water in the cells there arey, conflicting reports of that, but we heard prisoners describe eating a single hot dog with no bun for lunch and having very limited access to water as rachel described. it is important to note, and i would be interested to hear from rachel, about any retaliation that prisoners are facing when they do try to document conditions or get in touch with family members. we mentioned last week when we did talking about how tdcj

not actually get around to evacuating prisons in fort bend county until some people made calls to the outside and the loved ones then called officials and encouraged them to evacuate the facilities. we heard williams made a call like that and is now one of the 45,000 prisoners that remains evacuated. one thing, we did get an update from that prisoner who said they're being held in a gymnasium-like facilities sleeping on cots and have a lot of concern about talk roaches, snakes, other bugs bothering them. a makeup talk about who that is. >> a former death row prisoner here in texas who was sentenced a murderfor a crime -- he says he did not commit. he was a juvenile at the time. the u.s. supreme court has said it is unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to death, so

he was moved to a different facility where he remains now. his case is being reinvestigated by a special unit set up to look at cases that had evidence that ran through the harris county crime lab -- which had a lot of problems at the time. amy: rachel villalobos, that anytion of renee, was her retaliation for your husband are others speaking out try to reach you and was there trouble reaching loved ones during the storm? trouble reaching him. like i said, the last time i spoke to him was august 27. the last time i spoke to him was september 2. you can imagine the emotion i had. i feel for the people that have their husband in the shu, loved ones in the shu because they have not heard from them. that is really sad. there is retaliation. i got confirmation they are

retaliating on one prisoner already and they're starting to retaliate on my husband. that is really sad that these guards could be so corrupted like that. i mean, all we're trying to do is just help them. for them to retaliate like that on my husband is set. amy: i want to go to lance lowry afscme local 3807 of the texas correctional employees, the union which represents guards and others. what are your concerns? >> they are for our members. our members are in the same conditions as the offenders. what i'm getting back from -- the feedback from the officers on the ground, they're going to tell us the truth of what is going on. there tends to be exaggeration of some of the conditions. i'm not going to paint a rosy picture like the agency. this is hurting disaster zone. there has been power outages in the area.

obviously, disruption of water supplies -- which does create a sanitary issue. standing inates three or four feet of water? i visited some of these facilities, have talked personally with the officers. on a confidential basis. i have not heard of any of these arelities flooding that currently occupied. there have been issues of disruption of water supply and sanitary conditions. at the staff on the ground are in the same conditions and they do have a vested interest pertaining to their own health to keep a sanitary environment. amy: lance, you have told the isston press sheriff clarke just doing his job representing a rosier picture, that have been talking about the difficulties -- for example, can you talk about the stiles unit and others on emergency lockdown in

beaumont? people outside texas may be surprised to hear that this one town, not so large, there are at least five prisons? >> there are several federal facilities and three tdcj state facilities in beaumont. the tdcjtions of facility -- the biggest issue we have seen is staffing issues. some of the homes, roadways were shut down. one thing the agency did try to paint a rosier picture of was the staffing situation. if you look at any of the maps from the flooding, you can clearly see the roadways going in and out of the majority of the facilities were severely flooded. our union hall in beaumont was flooded. i have talked personally with people on the ground. for ourvastation

officers. a lot of them have experienced flooding in their own homes will stop at the same time, there try to take care of the prisons and take care of the prisoners to the best of their abilities. amy: in polk county, florida, sheriff rady tweeted this week -- renee, talk about the significance of this. mentionede you florida. a lot of people are looking at what florida plans to do with and theirn system prisoners. i looked up this morning to see who they had evacuated and the latest update sounds like they have 5000 prisoners evacuated in the last 24 hours from facilities located in the path of hurricane irma. there is another 3000 that are

set to move soon. those are early reports. that is what we're hearing from the prison officials. aboutis concern not just who is going to be evacuated in terms of the prisons, but as the tweet refers to, there is concern about people criminal records being able to access shelters and how they're being treated during all of this. amy: and this is a separate issue, but the issue of daca and immigrants terrified to go into shelters, which we saw in speaking to people when we were in houston this weekend will stop the number of people staying in our homes, afraid if they come out, the immigration police, as they said, would get them. >> that's right. amy, when weseen, were at one of the neighborhoods where people were inflating their kayaks and going into their neighborhoods, we saw border patrol trucks full of officers putting on wading gear

to help, as i said, but you can see how their presence in these statements, because of the fear of ice, customs and border patrol issue, turning people in and engaging in raids and mass deportations, that people are going to avoid areas where they see them because of that fear. so that is another major concern. i wanted to suggest that we get lance to elaborate on one point, amy, which is back here in texas. the facilities that we described are in areas, again, beaumont -- it is incredible. they were not evacuated from the city who lost its water supply. we are talking about five prisons. as lance pointed out, not just prisons, but the guards. it has been said that there are ported potties on site, for example, the groups like the prison abolition, prisoner support network paps, have pointed out that 20 ported potties at a prison for a week may get a bit overused, start to

overflow. there were concerns whether or not the inmates themselves, the prisoners were able to use those or if they were just for the guards. all of this points to a question of whether or not the facilities are meeting constitutional standards, whether they are prisoners during a disaster -- whether prisoners are being held .n constitutional conditions i want to see if lance could speak to that and also the history of evaluating whether the conditions of some of these facilities are constitutional. definitely some issues we need to look at as far as the facilities. one of our main concerns is the es south of the brazos that have flooded. we're concerned about the health and safety as far as mold, black mold exposure. when the agency decides to reopen these facilities. this can impact -- not only the inmates, but the officers

themselves are impacted. yet remember, the officers are in these facilities for a high number of hours. what affects the inmates as far as the health and safety does affect our officers. that is concerning when we do stop onee crises will thing i have seen as far as major flaw in texas has been our staffing ratios. we don't have a high number of correctional staff available for emergencies such as this. they were lucky to get 6000 inmates out of south of houston where it was flood-prone. had we had more disastrous situations in beaumont -- at the time, we did not have enough time to get people in and evacuate those offenders or even the officers. -- i have been on site and talked to a lot of the officers. it has severely impacted our officers.

running these prison systems without the correct leading toons is -- constitutional issues. we do not have enough staffing in place. when you do not have enough staff, services sometimes are delayed. if you look at the state of texas as far as our staffing every, we manage for officer, six offenders. you go to new york, it is one in three. >> would probably need to wrap up, but there is an interesting concern raised if prisoners evacuated other facilities and yet those facilities managing potentially twice as many populations, many of these facilities have concerns raised previously about whether they are constitutional because of the lack of air-conditioning in taxes and we see that again in some of the facilities were they were evacuated to. in harris county, we're seeing reports the harris county criminal justice complex, choice for a building, had its toilets explode and sewage flood

everywhere after the storm. it is right next to buffalo bayou. it can be closed for many months, delaying trials. another aspect of the criminal justice system we will keep an eye on. amy: we want to thank you for being with us, lance lowry, president of afscme local 3807 of the texas correctional employees, the union which represents texas prison employees. renee feltz of democracy now!, , whosehel villalobos husband is held at the federal correctional complex in beaumont. beaumont lost all of its water. when we come back, the segregation of alabama schools. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "come down here and say that" by deerhoof performing here on our democracy now! studio. to see the full performances and interview, go to democracynow.org. as students return to school across the country, we turn now to look at how segregation is returning to schools.

we take a look at "the resegregation of jefferson county." it looks at how predominantly white house in alabama are increasingly pulling out a regional school districts and creating new schools that are overwhelmingly white. critics say this is a new form of segregation. well, we're joined by nikole hannah-jones. her article about choosing a school for her daughter in a segregated school system won a national magazine award this year. welcome to democracy now! so talk about what you are finding and why you chose to look at jefferson county. >> one of the reasons that integration was so successful by court order in this outcome the south tends to operate countywide school systems. that meant 20 to flee desegregation could not simply move into a white town to get away from these orders. what we're finding in alabama and really across the country are white communities, wealthier white communities want to pull away from these regional or countywide school districts and form their own racially isolated

much more wealthy school districts. that has happened in jefferson county, alabama. i look at that case in particular because most of the time when white communities -- they're called school district secessions. therehey want to secede, is little scrutiny. we don't do to see their motivation. at the school system that this town, this suburban community called gardendale wanted to split off from was under a desegregation order. they had to go to trial. there was discovery. in discovery, the racial motivations of the white people in the community became very clear so it provided an unusual opportunity to explore why communities who say they want to break off from local control are often motivated by race. amy: that trial is fascinating that you write about. in it, the judge actually reads from brown v. board of education. especially for young people who don't even know what that is. more than half a century ago.

explain what happened then and why it applies now and why this judge found it important to recite it in court. >> brown v. board of education is a landmark supreme court ruling that found legally mandated school segregation unconstitutional. amy: back in 1954. >> prior to that, we operated under the plessy v ferguson doctrine is a segregation of black citizens was legal and constitution as long as it was equal. of course, it was never equal. brown deals with citizenship. it is saying the separation of black students from white denies them their full citizenship. commonly learned this history, the supreme court makes its ruling and will agree segregation was that in integrate our schools or tried really hard. what happened is that was massive resistance both in the north and south. it takes a long time for school desegregation to occur, where it

occurred at all, largely because of these court orders. what was so fascinating about this trial is many federal judges have basically taken the position these court orders, some of them 50 years old, have gone on too long. there is still more segregation for them to deal with. but one judge, appointed by president obama, has been one of the rare federal judges who is taking this seriously. i was reading through the court transcripts. there was this amazing moment where she is interviewing the superintendent that the always school board of gardendale onointed, and found out cross examination, it came out that he had never hired or worked with a black teacher in his career, even though he was coming down to basically birmingham, alabama. i she declined to be interviewed for this story but it is clear she called a recess, goes and gets copies of the brown ruling, begins to question him about had he ever read the

ruling, then reads parts of it, particularly the parts about how segregation demeans black students allowed. it was amazing. i've written about school segregation for more than a decade and read transcripts and sat in on trials and never have seen the judge do that. amy: explain what happening gardendale. >> what is the status of the case right now? there is an interesting ruling. she finds gardendale was in fact motivated by racism, which is a rare thing for a judge to find these days. she kind of split the baby. gardendale wanted to break off. amy: the school system, which is quite amazing even to be called. >> that exactly. she allows them to take over two of the elementary schools in the town and said she's going to watch over the case and see how they act with a black students that they have to bus in because

of this court order and if all goes well, she would allow them to their own district. fund,acp legal defense which was fighting the secession, did not agree with the ruling. she was conflicted about what to do with this case, understanding if she did not allow them to break off, it could be very soon jefferson county would be released from the court order and gardendale could do whatever it wanted. by allowing them to break off, she could put them under their own desegregation order and watch them longer. i think it gives to the challenge of undoing racial caste in this country which is not easily done. amy: i want you to stay after the show so we can continue this. and also, your own pursuit of the school for your daughter, not in nikole hannah-jones alabama, but in new york. nikole hannah-jonesis the award-winning reporter at "new york times magazine" covering racial injustice. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013.

[captioning made possible by democracy now!] rld

turn out the tastiest meals. i'll show you how with some great space saving tricks and one pan meals. beef and many vegetable stew. lemon garlic chicken breast with roasted rosemary potatoes and brussels sprouts. and herbed salmon and orzo casserole with feta. all in one dishes ideal for any size kitchen, and a teeny one i can totally tackle next on ellie's real good food. (lively guitar music) - [voiceover] funding for this series has been provided by.